IN THE wake of increasing number of deaths due to spurious liquor, the state excise department has deployed over 110 teams to keep a check on sale of spurious liquor at various pubs, restaurants and bars.

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State Excise Commissioner Vijay Singhal said that they have filed nearly 7,000 cases against hooch dens and the numbers are going to go up.

Singhal said that a three-fold approach has been adopted in the wake of New Year’s eve parties. “We have formed a division-wise special squad and our teams will check the licences. We have asked all restaurants and bars serving foreign liquor to reveal the source from where they have procured it,” said Singhal.

On Friday, the team had conducted raids at several places and spurious liquor was seized at many places, he said. In the recent assembly session, it had come to light that the sale of illicit liquor needs to be checked and the largest number of hooch cases were recorded in the state in 2014. Of the 1,699 deaths reported in the country, 359 were from the state. With such reports the excise department is all set to prevent it.

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The excise department has also tightened the grip on various pubs and restaurants for operating without the mandatory licenses. Those found operating without a licence and not taking the permission for the event will be asked to pay double the amount. The excise department had been given a target of Rs 13,500 crore and the department has already achieved Rs 7,400 crore and are confident that they will achieve at least Rs 12,500 crore by March end.